Safety belt buckle



Jan. 19, 1965 s. M. LEHMAN 3,155,806

SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Filed Jan. 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @for/zg Jan. 19, 1965 Filed Jan. 18,

G. M. LEHMAN SAFETY BELT BUCKLE 3 Flag. 202

INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,165,806 SAFETY BELT BUCKLE Gerald M. Lehman, Freeport, NSY., assigner to Phillips- Van Heusen Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed lan. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 252,399 1 Claim. (Cl. 2li-23%?) This invention relates to buckles, and more particularly to the type employed on safety belts as presently used in automobiles, aeroplanes and other besicles.

It is an object of the invention to provide a buckle which can be easily and positively operated; which can be made relatively light and compact; which will have few parts and be trouble-free and which will provide the safety factor required and desired by all users of safety belts.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a buckle of this kind which will have no parts projecting outside of its housing or casing so that the chances of an inadvertent disengagement of one end of the belt from the buckle will be exceedingly unlikely.

It is an object of the invention to provide a buckle which will cause a locking engagement to be effected with one end of a belt by the insertion of a leaf element carried thereby, into the casing of the buckle and which will permit an instantaneous detechment of the leaf element from the buckle by the depression of a button or similar finger-engaging element.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a buckle useful for the above-mentioned purpose and possibly advantageously employed for other purposes, and in which a pivoted locking or latch plate is mounted Within a casing and is spring-urged to locking engagement with a plate or leaf carried by one end of the belt; which latch plate is provided adjacent to one of its ends with a button or other suitably-shaped lingerengaging element which, by its depression, will become disengaged from the plate or leaf and permit of the removal of the leaf from within the casing.

With theses and other objects to be hereinafter set in view, I have devised the arrangementV of parts to be described Iand more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view through the housing or casing of the buckle, showing the latch plate and the leaf in engaged position, but showing the spring omitted in order to more clearly `disclose construction;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 2 2 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the structure of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 4 4 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a face view of the latch plate;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the spring;

FIG. 7 is an end view of the spring;

FIG. 8 is a face view of the leaf to which one end of the safety belt is attached;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a recessed release button;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a release bar employed as a substitute for a release button;

FIG. ll is a top plan view in a reduced scale of a part of the buckle casing, showing a release button located in a depression in the top Wall of the casing; and

FIG. 12 is a sectional view through the structure of FIG. 11.

Referring to the drawing, 1 generally indicates the casing or housing of the buckle, the same being preferably in the form of a metal stamping and being generally in ice the shape of a relatively at, shallow rectangular sleeve or hollow box. The casing has a flat front wall, 2, a rear wall 3 and opposite side walls indicated respectively :at 4 and 5, all of which parts of the casing may be integrally formed. The casing is open at one end as indicated at 6, and it is provided with an end wall indicated at 7. An aperture 8 is provided in the rear wall and through which one end of the safety belt (not shown) is looped and extended around a movable cross bar 9 contained Within the casing. This looped portion of the belt is normally gripped between the bar 9 and the adjacent end portion of the casing when the belt is in use, and the adjustment of the belt around the bar is possible when the belt is slackened.

The opposite end of the belt is fastened around a bar 10 forming the end part of a loop-shaped plate or leaf 40 which is adapted for insertion Within the casing 1 between the rear Wall 3 thereof and a part of a latch plate shown at 11, for engagement by a pressed-out lip 12 provided on the latch plate.

The latch plate 11 is a flat metal memberas shown in FIG. 5 and the same is provided :adjacent to one of its ends with a foot portion 14 in which the pressed-out lip 12 is formed. This foot part 14 of the latch plate is integrally connected by an angular or offset part 13 to the lever portion 15 of the latch plate.

, Projecting from the opposite side edges 16 and 17 of the latch plate, are lugs 1S, the same being fitted in apertures 19 provided in the opposite side walls 4 and 5 of the casing. These lugs 18 are disposed at approximately the center of the latch plate and they are thus located between the lip 12 and the lever portion 15 of the latch plate. It will be noted that the latch plate 11 is completely confined within the casing 1. That is to sa, it has no parts of the plate extending beyond the confines of the casing likely to be inadvertently engaged or caught upon clothing to accidentally cause the release of the leaf 40 from its engagement by the lip 12.

Near one of its ends, the front wall 2 of the casing is provided with an aperture 20 which may be complementary in shape to a button 21 provided on and projecting from the upper surface of the lever portion 15 of the latch plate 11. The end of the button 21 may, if desired, project slightly beyond the outer surface of the front wall of the casing as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, or it may be substantially flush therewith to thereby prevent any accidental depression of it. The button might also be surrounded by a depression or recess 22 as shovm in FIGS. 1l and l2 to thereby locate the surface of the button below the face of the front wall. The button might also have a depression or recess in its end as shown at 23 in FIG. 9.

The means for urging the latch plate into locking engagement with the loop-shaped leaf 4t) consists of a substantially V-shaped leaf spring shown at 25, the same having its opposite leaves 26 and 27 tending to spread apart. One of these leaves, or that shown at 26, is engaged against the inside surface of the front Wall 2 of the housing or casing, and the other leaf 27 engages against the latch plate 11 in the foot portion 14 at a point between the lip 12 and the adjacent end of the latch plate. The spring may be provided with edges 39 for gripping or otherwise engaging parts of the casing and latch plate and holding the spring against displacement. The leaf spring 25 tends to urge the foot portion 14 of the latch plate in a direction toward the rear wall 3 of the casing, while holding the lever portion 15 elevated to thereby locate the button 21 in the aperture 20 for availability to the finger of the user of the belt, for the disengagement of one end of the belt from the buckle.

From the foregoing, the operation and use of the improved buckle will be readily apparent. As previously explained, one end of the belt, not shown, is adjustably looped around the cross bar 9 so that the buckle is thus coupled to one end of the safety belt and is carried thereby. The opposite end of the belt may be permanently attached to the plate or leaf 40. In using the buckle, the plate or leaf 40 is inserted through the open end 6 of the casing and is slid between the foot portion 14 ot' the latch plate and the rear wall 3 of the casing. The plate or leaf 40 is guided in its insertion into the casing by means of ribs 29 and 30 pressed inwardly from the side walls 4 and 5 of the casing.

When the plate or leaf .40 is inserted into the casing 1 to a sutlicient extent, an audible click will signify that the lip 12 on the latch plate 11 has snapped into engagement with the opening 31 in the leaf 40 and the engagement of said lip against the edge 32 of said opening 31 has occurred and this will then prevent the withdrawal of the leaf 40 out of the casing, thus coupling the two ends of the safety belt together by means of the buckle then interposed between them.

The leaf or plate 40 can be instantly freed from its engagement with the lip 12 by linger-depression of the button 21, since pressure thereon will depress the lever portion of the latch plate and resultantly elevate the foot portion 14 thereof to thereby raise the lip 12 to clear the aperture 31 in the leaf. As stated above, the button 21 by means of which the release of the leaf 40 is effected, may be counter-sunk or depressed so that its accidental depression is rendered exceedingly unlikely. Also, While I have shown this tinger-piece 21 as being in the form of a round button, it may be made in other shapes when it is desired to render the operating element of the device slightly more accessible. For eXarnple, the linger-piece might be made in the form of an elongated element or bar 33 (FIG. 10) which can, if

desired, be formed as an integral part of the lever portion 15 of the latch plate or as an added element, and which will be accessible through a complimentarily-shaped aperture provided in the front wall of the casing 1.

The buckle is of simple construction and is easily and positively operated. 1t can be made relatively thin and compact and because of the few parts employed in it it can be made light While being exceptionally sturdy.

Having thus described asingle embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the `annexed claims.

What is claimed is: n

A safety belt buckle comprising, a sheet material casing of substantially rectangular form having a front wall, a rear wall, and a pair of side walls, said casing having an opening at one end, an apertured leaf adapted to be carried by an end of a safety belt, a sheet material latch plate disposed Within the casing, said latch plate having first and second end portions lying in generally parallel planes connected by an inclined medial portion, said first portion positioned adjacent said opening, said latch plate having a foot portion at said first end portion provided with a projecting lip directed toward the second end portion, said lip being delined by the free edge of a slot partially defined by a pressed out portion of a generally U-shaped configuration in elevation, said latch plate having integral lugs projecting from its opposite side edges and located intermediate of its end portions, the side walls of the casing being provided with apertures receiving said lugs to thereby pivotally mount the latch plate wholly within the casing, said lugs being disposed between the lip and the inclined medial portion, said second portion being provided with a linger-engaging element by which the latch plate may be pivotally moved, the casing having an aperture in its front wall through which the linger-engaging element is exposed for manual engagement, the leaf being insertable between the foot portion of the latch plate and the rear wall of the casing and engaged by the lip to prevent its withdrawal out of the casing, and generally V-shaped spring means between the foot portion of the latch plate and the front wall adjacent the opening biasing the tirst end portion toward the rear wall and into engagement with the leaf aperture.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 256,087 Wiesenmeyer Apr. 4, 1882 556,538 Haney Mar. 17, 1896 1,369,064 Toyarna Feb. 22, 1921 2,602,977 Tannersjo `luly l5, 1952 2,846,745 Lathrop Aug. 12, 1958 2,888,724 Anderson June 2, 1959 2,920,367 Fazenbaker lan. 12, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 557,868 France Aug. 17, 1923 10,622 Great Britain June 22, 1891 21,739 Great Britain Nov. 29, 1892 96,034 Switzerland Sept. 1, 1922 

